


Premonition

by nishiki



Series: Happy Little Accident [7]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abusive Partner, Abusive Relationships, Abusive boyfriend, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Parents, Ben is team nathan, Dad!Klaus Hargreeves, Gen, Klaus Hargreeves has a kid, Klaus Hargreeves is a dad, M/M, Nathan has powers, Physical Abuse, Premonitions, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Superpowers, Telekinesis, bad relationships, not between Klaus and his son, protective Nathan Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26481073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: Klaus is willing to put up with a lot of shit from a lot of different people, even romantic partners - until someone messes with his child.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Nathan Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Nathan Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/OMC, klaus hargreeves & ben hargreeves
Series: Happy Little Accident [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808335
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	Premonition

It started like it always did and how it never should. It happened one morning out of the blue, without warning, without foreboding signs on the horizon of the storm that was to come. An insulting remark was thrown across the breakfast table from the man who was supposed to cherish him and worship the ground he was walking on. A remark little enough to overlook and brush off, and sharp enough to cut. Klaus Hargreeves was no stranger to situations like this. He was not naive about it, he was not blind to it, he knew what would follow if he wouldn't put a stop to it right away. 

He didn't put a stop to it anyway. 

Looking back, he thought, not putting a stop to it made him complicit and just as bad as Marco. He could have stopped it before it had time to develop and evolve into something more and although he knew that he should, he turned a blind eye. It was a deliberate decision and he couldn't lie to himself about that. 

Marco had entered his life six months ago during springtime, the perfect prince charming in Klaus’ hectic life as a single father with an eight-year-old son. They had met at the flower shop Klaus was working in. Marco had come in, bought a bouquet of red roses, paid, and left. A normal day, a normal customer. Only that this customer had continued to show up twice a week from that point onwards. At one point, Klaus had remarked that his girlfriend sure was a lucky lady to receive flowers from him so often. Marco had just grinned in response and the next time he had come to the shop, he had asked Klaus about his favorite flowers, bought a bouquet of dahlias and handed it to Klaus with the request for a date. It was like a fairy tale. Even after Marco had learned about his eight-year-old son, he had not seemed frightened by it. They had jumped right into their relationship and that should have tipped Klaus off from the start. 

In the beginning, Marco had seemed so perfect, though. Too perfect, perhaps. He had been nice and charming and kind and understanding. A looker he was too! Tall, dark, and handsome - just like Klaus liked it. He had been good with Nathan as well after Klaus had finally allowed Marco to meet his son. Of course, he hadn't made that decision lightly either. He knew how many awful human beings were out there on the hunt for children and his son’s safety had to always come first. Nathan, on the other hand, had been wary of Marco from the start and Klaus should have listened to him. 

The shouting, Klaus had chalked up to Marco being Italian and to his blood running hot. He knew that from Diego too. Only Diego had never screamed in his face like Marco would sometimes do. When Marco had first slapped him across the face, he had believed his apologies and was just glad that Nathan hadn't witnessed it. Marco had promised him that it would never happen again and Klaus had believed him. Of course, it had happened again. He had known from the start that it would happen again and that it would continue to happen until Klaus would put a stop to it. 

The thing about relationships like this one was, that they didn't start abusive. And Marco too had not just woken up one day and decided to become an abusive asshole towards Klaus. There was no lever that was switched without warning. Shit like this happened slowly and over time. It was a subtle process. Right? Maybe it was naive of him to think this way but he couldn't help it. He still, after six months, saw the good in Marco, saw the man he had fallen in love with so easily over stupidly romantic dinners of takeaway pizza at the Colosseum. 

At least, Klaus thought, Marco never hit him or screamed at him when Nathan was around. 

“He is a bad man.” Nathan turned to him out of the blue one night as they sat huddled in Klaus’ bed.

“What do you mean?” Klaus smiled even though his jaw still hurt from last night. He couldn't let his son know that, of course. Ben was watching from a chair in the corner, fixing his brother with a concerned look.

“I mean … I had a dream” Nathan shrugged and fidgeted with the hem of his Spongebob shirt. God save the people who sold counterfeit shirts near the Colosseum and the Fontana di Trevi. “And Marco was very mean to you in that dream.”

“Mean to me?” He echoed faintly.

“Yeah … he hit you real bad, Daddy…” Spiders were crawling down his spine. “You fell and you hit your head on the table in the kitchen and then you didn't get up.”

Crap. This was his fault. His son was having nightmares about his dad and Marco and he was at fault for that. It had always been his only goal to give Nathan a childhood like Klaus never had one. A childhood free of bad spirits, free of nightmares. and trauma. A childhood of cotton candy and unicorns, of bright skies and sunshine, of fairies and fantasy. Only good memories for his son. And now his baby was having nightmares about his father dying on the kitchen floor of their apartment. 

He was failing big time. Eight years into this adventure and he was still the same useless piece of shit he was as a teenager. 

“Don't worry” He said to his boy as he pulled him into a fierce hug. They were alone at their tiny apartment under the roof of a four story building in the heart of Rome. Thunder was rolling in the distance as Klaus huddled in bed with his son in his arms. Marco was out of town for a job so it was only them right now. Klaus and Nathan. And Ben watching from the corner with a frown on his face. “It was just a bad dream, Bug.”

※※※※※※※

It had been a bad day. A bad week, really. A storm front had hit Rome two days ago and since then massive rainfalls were ravaging the ancient city. As he had picked up Nathan from school earlier, his baby boy had already been covered in mud from playing outside during recess. Klaus didn't mind too much. He was a child, after all. Children played in the rain and in the mud. Children didn't think too much about the consequences and while the other mothers and fathers were scolding their kids in rapid-fire Italian, Klaus just clicked his tongue, rolled his eyes, and helped Nathan to open his little umbrella.

His entire day so far had been a disaster. The flower shop he was working for was barely scraping by and Klaus knew that he would be the first to go if the owner would need to tighten the belt. She had told him as much today. Not that he had needed her to spell it out for him. Marco too had written him a message earlier, telling him that he had been let go from his job. He would be pissed when he would come to Klaus’ apartment later. 

“Dad” Nathan spoke up and gently pulled at Klaus’ hand as they were walking away from the school. 

“Yes, Munchkin?”

“Will Marco be over tonight?” It was Friday. Marco usually came by on Fridays to spend the weekend with Klaus. 

“Sure.”

“I don't want him to.” There was a sting in his chest as if he had been stabbed. 

“Nathie…” He sighed. “We talked about it.”

“But he’s mean to you! Uncle Ben says so too!” 

“Yeah ... but Uncle Ben is a gossip. Don't believe everything he says, he just wants attention.” He glared at his dead brother as Ben was walking beside him. He knew that Ben only wanted to protect him. Ben didn't get it, though. He didn't understand the situation. Ben was always so critical of everything Klaus would do. He always only saw the negative things and never the positive things. He ignored the good moments that Klaus would have with Marco in favor of bitching about it when Marco got a little rough with him. 

“But Dad, I saw it again!” Nathan argued and pulled his hand once more to gain his attention. “He will hurt you really bad tonight!”

“That was a dream, Munchkin.”

“No!” Nathan growled. “No! I was sitting in class when I saw it, Daddy!”

“I didn't realize school was so boring that you fall asleep during classes.”

“He wasn’t asleep, Klaus,” Ben affirmed what his nephew said. Of course. Ben always had Nathan’s back. 

“Nathie, you don't need to protect me - and neither do you, Benjamin.” He rolled his eyes and squeezed Nathan’s hand in reassurance. “I know you guys don't like Marco. He’s a bit rough when he’s in a bad mood but he would never seriously hurt me or something, okay? It's all good.” Thankfully, the bruises Marco left on him last time were hidden away underneath his clothes and already almost healed by now. He shouldn’t have provoked him as much as he did. Marco wouldn't have shoved him into the dresser if Klaus would just have kept his mouth shut. He had known that Marco was in a bad mood, after all. 

“I don't like how he treats you!” Nathan blurted out and stomped his foot. “He’s always mean to you!”

“You don't understand stuff like this yet, Nathie.” Klaus sighed. It got harder and harder to not lose his patience with the little guy. “I love him and he loves me. You want me to be happy, right? I’m happy when Marco is around.”

He hated himself for saying this. He hated himself as he saw how Nathan looked at him. He hated himself as he saw the way Ben looked at him. Ben knew that he was bullshitting but Nathan didn't. He was too young. He couldn't understand it. What a great father he was. He pinched his lips into a thin line. Fuck. What kind of role-model was he? He was teaching Nathan that it was okay what Marco did to him! 

But it was, wasn’t it? He deserved the way Marco was treating him because he could never do anything right. And even this, raising his son, he couldn't do right. Maybe he should send Nathie to his sister Allison. She would do a better job than he did. He would soon be jobless again, after all. Stranded in a foreign country because he was so fucking selfish. All he needed to do was reach out to Reginald or one of his siblings but he was too selfish to do that and Nathie had to suffer the consequences because of his selfishness and his fucking pride. And now his son was completely confused and probably scared because every weekend Marco would yell at Klaus and even sometimes at Nathan. He would witness how Marco would shove him around. At least Marco had never hit him in front of Nathan. Klaus knew that Marco didn't mean it. He was always sorry after the fact. He was just a very passionate guy, right? It wasn’t his fault. Klaus was just so goddamn good at pushing other people's buttons all the time. 

It had always been like this, after all. He had always been great at annoying other people and making people hate him or be angry with him. Marco had just fallen into that same trap like all the other people before him. It wasn’t his fault. He was a hardworking, nice young man. It was Klaus. Klaus who somehow always managed to drag the worst parts of every person he came across to the surface. Maybe that was just part of his powers. 

Maybe he was cursed.

It was already late when Marco finally dropped by. On Fridays, Marco liked to cook for them. He let himself in as usual. Klaus had given him a key to the apartment months ago despite Ben’s concerns. All things considered, Ben’s concerns seemed valid even to him but he loved Marco and he trusted Marco. So why wouldn't he give him a key to his place so that his boyfriend would be able to drop by whenever he felt like it?

He had expected his boyfriend to be in a bad mood when he would come over but not that bad of a mood. It wasn’t the first job Marco had lost during their relationship, after all, and he hadn't much cared for his job anyway. In retrospect, that might be the reason why he had lost the job in the first place. Nathan seemed on edge all throughout dinner - which was unusual for his little munchkin. Nathan was very bubbly, very happy-go-lucky even when Marco was around but tonight he seemed off. 

Klaus still couldn't help but think about what Nathan had told him earlier about what he had dreamed about. Ben had seemed so adamant that Nathan hadn’t been sleeping during class. Was his little boy so scared for his dad that he was imagining horrible things like this now? Had he fucked up this badly with his baby? 

He noticed that Nathan hardly ate any of his pasta. Of course, Marco took it personally. He always took stuff like this personally. Marco prided himself on his cooking skills and these days it took so little to tick him off. 

Klaus wanted to tell Nathan - yell at Nathan - to just eat but the realization that he wanted to yell at his own son because of something so little, disgusted him to no end. Ben glared at him from where he sat perched on the counter as if he could read Klaus’ mind. How rotten, how truly corrupted he was to think such a thing. But the truth was that he wanted Marco to love him just like Klaus loved Marco. He had never been in love before. Not like this. Until he had Marco, he had been certain that love and butterflies just weren’t for him and that he would never find a man who would look at him like Marco used to look at him. Most people had seen only that useless junkie that he used to be, had seen a fuck-up or, at best, a fun toy for a night or two. Not Marco, though. Marco had looked at him as if he was the moon in the night sky, the sun that made his day brighter. As Marco looked at him now across the table, there was nothing left of that. 

“Why are you not eating?” Marco addressed Nathan before shifting his gaze to look at Klaus instead. “Why is he not eating?”

“I’m not hungry,” Nathan replied before Klaus had any chance to. 

“We had waffles earlier when I picked him up from school.”

“You spoil him, Klaus!” Marco rolled his eyes and the sharpness to his tone made Klaus flinch. “No wonder he gets in trouble all the time if his father is spoiling him rotten and never teaches him any consequences for his actions!”

“I’m right here, you know?” Nathan shot back with a snarl.

“Yes, I see and for your behavior, you should be in your room!” Marco looked at Klaus expectantly. He knew what he wanted. Marco wanted him to send his son to his room and to tell him that he didn't want to see him for the rest of the night but Klaus simply couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Nathan didn't deserve being punished for Marco's bruised ego. 

“Nathie” He turned to his son and brushed a hand through his curls. “Maybe he’s right. If you’re not hungry, you should go to bed, okay?”

“Dad!” He looked so disappointed, so … betrayed. Because he was. Klaus had betrayed him. He had stabbed him in the back. And he knew what that felt like. He knew how he had felt whenever Reginald had done something to truly betray his trust until there had been nothing left of the inherent trust that any child felt for their parents at one point. Soon, Nathan would look at him with indifference. 

“Klaus!” Ben echoed with the same twinge of disappointment in his voice. “You can't be serious! Kick him out! You can't let him dictate how you raise your kid! Nathie did nothing wrong!”

He bit the inside of his cheek so that he wouldn't answer Ben. Marco didn't know about his past and he didn't know about his powers. If he would suddenly talk to his dead brother in Marco’s presence, he would leave him and never come back. He would think Klaus was crazy. 

“Go to your room, Nathan!” Marco suddenly yelled and slammed his fist on the table. Nathan turned to him again, tears now in his eyes but as Klaus didn't say anything, Nathan shoved his chair back, got up abruptly, and stomped out of the kitchen and into his room where he slammed the door. Ben glared at him again but then he shook his head before he followed Nathan. Ben always had Nathan’s back.

“You really need to teach your kid some manners, amore.” Marco’s tone became much softer right away as he grabbed Klaus' hand that way lying on the table. “If you don't, he will do what he wants as soon as he hits puberty.” 

“I know” He whispered and felt bad right away. “I know but I just … My dad … he was awful, you know? He was a dictator - a monster. I don't want that for Nathan. I couldn't stand the thought that Nathan might look back at his childhood one day and have only bad memories of it. When Nathie was born, I promised myself that I would make it better, that I would give him the childhood I never had.”

“He still needs rules and he needs to behave. He needs to listen when one of us tells him something, Klaus.” _He needs to listen when I tell him something_ , Marco wanted to say. Klaus knew that this was what Marco meant to say. “You need to tell him that he listens to me too, Klaus. I can't have this impertinence all the time. I don't want to come here and feel like I’m not wanted.”

“He is … headstrong...”

“He _hates_ me!”

“No … it's just … he’s stubborn and he … we were alone for a long time.” 

“All I’m hearing is excuses, Klaus!” He was angry again. He was always angry these days. It didn't take much to set him off these days. As Marco’s palm smacked the table between them, it made Klaus flinch and he wished he hadn't flinched. Usually, that made Marco angrier. “We have to work together as a team now, Klaus! I lost my job today! I need my boyfriend to support me and help me and I need us to be a unit, right? How else do you think this can move forward? And it starts with you drilling into Nathan’s head that I am here to stay and that he has to show me some respect. I love you more than anything, Klaus, but your son’s behavior towards me is unacceptable!”

“Y-You’re right” He stammered and his heart was racing in his chest as he noticed the anger in Marco’s eyes. He knew that look. Nathan wasn’t here when Marco would get this look usually - he would be at school or be fast asleep in his room. He wanted to call for his brother Diego or for Luther, wanted them to come and be here with him - just in case. But Luther and Diego were thousands of miles away because he had wanted it that way. Right now, he needed his big brothers but he had made sure that they would never know about his problems. “Y-yeah, you’re right. You're right, Marco. I know. He n-needs to listen to you.”

“You are too soft on him, Klaus!” Marco groaned as he threw his hands up in the air and leaned back in his creaking chair. “I mean, _waffles_? You told me earlier that your boss pretty much told you that she needed to let you go soon and you go and buy him _waffles_? We don't have the money, Klaus! Nathan needs to learn that! He needs to understand that life isn’t a fucking fairy tale!”

“I know, I know…” His mind was racing. He knew that, when Marco would talk himself into a frenzy, things tended to escalate very quickly. He looked at the empty beer bottle on the sink. Marco had emptied it while he cooked. Marco had brought a six-pack over like he would do every Friday when he would come over for the weekend or any other time he would drop by to spend the night. Klaus never bought alcohol. He had asked Marco at the start of their relationship not to bring alcohol - because of his child, he had claimed. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry.”

“Your _‘I’m sorry’_ doesn't cut it, Klaus! You need to grow up and be an actual fucking adult for once in your life.”

“I _am_ an adult!” He knew that he made a mistake the moment those words slipped his tongue a little too harshly. Marco was on his feet and pressed him down onto the table in a matter of seconds, a strong, calloused hand on Klaus’ neck to push his face down into the tabletop. He could crush his windpipe with that hand and not even break a sweat. He felt reminded of the time Luther once threw him across the gym. Only his brother had aimed for the mats in the back of the room and never intended to hurt him.

“No” He snarled close to Klaus’ right ear. He could feel his hot breath ghost over the shell of his ear - something that would arouse him under different circumstances. “You are a fucking child, Klaus. You behave like a child half the time and like a fucking slut the other half. Do you really think I wouldn't have heard the stories about you? But all of this ends now because I will move in and teach Nathan to behave and listen. It's embarrassing that his teacher always calls you during work! And that's why you are going to lose your job too! But you are too much of a child to put a stop to this and discipline your kid!”

His blood ran cold and somehow he managed to free himself from Marco’s grip. Klaus barely registered the way Marco stumbled away from the table as if he had been pushed by some invisible force. A look of confusion hit Klaus as he got up and in Marco’s face. “You will not fucking _touch_ my son, you hear me?” He shouldn't have shouted. He knew that he should have just stayed quiet but he couldn't help hit. Not when Marco was sounding exactly like Reggie had. “ _I’m_ Nathan’s father and I make the rules and you have no fucking say in the matter because you are _not_ his dad! You are nothing to him!”

He saw the fist coming towards his face but barely felt the punch that broke his nose. Adrenalin was rushing through him but still, he had no chance against Marco. He knew that. Marco was strong and Klaus afraid. What if Marco would beat him so badly that he would die or get seriously injured and couldn't take care of Nathan anymore? What would happen to his son? Who would take care of him if he wouldn't be there to do it anymore? He thought about what Nathan had told him twice now. _You fell and you hit your head on the table and then you didn't get up. He will hurt you really bad tonight!_

He tried to move away from the table on instinct but Marco was blocking his way. “Do you think I want to do that?” He yelled as Klaus was pressing a hand to his bleeding nose. “Do you think I enjoy this? You make me do this, Klaus! It's your own fucking fault! You know how angry I always get and you still push my buttons all the goddamn time!”

The air was catapulted out of his lungs as Marco pushed him with all his strength. He lost his footing on the linoleum floor, stumbling backward. _The table_ , he thought right before his head slammed into the wood. For a second, everything turned dark but then he heard screaming and yelling in the world outside of his head. Nathan. He recognized his son’s voice - would recognize it under a sea of millions of voices. He sounded completely hysterical.

“Klaus!” Ben. Ben’s voice. His brother was here. He needed his big brothers but they were on the other side of the world. “Klaus, you hear me?”

He could hear Nathan cry and forced his eyes open. His son was standing between him and Marco, as Klaus was lying on the kitchen floor. The back of his head was wet but he barely registered it. Nathan was pushing the much taller and much stronger man as hard as he could so that Marco would get away from his dad. Then, Marco raised his hand and slapped Nathan across the face. Time seemed to stand still for just a second. Klaus was on his feet before he even knew what he was doing and despite the pain that he was in, despite how groggy he felt, he was standing - and then, as he turned his eyes on Marco, the other man went flying backward and crashed through the window.

※※※※※※※

Klaus watched numbly as the lights of the ambulance were rushing off into the night as thunder roared and rain came through the broken window in his kitchen. Marco, by some miracle, had landed in the open dumpster below - his fall cushioned by trash bags filled with soiled diapers and all kinds of shit that had spilled open the moment he had hit them with such force. He had heard him yell all kinds of insults as the paramedics had collected him from the dumpster just minutes after it had happened. Of course, he hadn't been able to assess the damage done to Marco’s body from afar but at least he was still alive, he guessed.

“Jesus” Ben muttered as he stood behind him and looked outside. “You need to close the shutters or the entire kitchen will be flooded.”

Nathan was sitting on Klaus’ hip and had his head rested against his shoulder. Suddenly, he seemed so small again. He was already eight years old but right now he was his little boy again, cuddling up to his dad, needing him to be there to hold him. One day, when he was old enough, Nathan would realize that Klaus had needed him just as much as Nathan had needed his dad. 

“That was so cool, Dad.” He mumbled quietly. “I didn't know you could do that.”

“Yeah … me neither.” He huffed as he made Ben corporal enough to close the shutters. Only then Klaus turned away from the window. He ignored the blood on the floor that had dripped out of his nose and the wound on the back of his head onto the floor. He ignored the pulsating pain on the back of his head or the pit in his stomach as he realized how close he had come to make Nathan’s vision real. Instead, he walked into his bedroom. His only desire was to curl up in bed right now and cuddle with his son. The way Nathan clung to him it became obvious that he too wanted nothing else right now. 

Five minutes later they were sitting in bed, Nathan curled into his side and Klaus’ arms around him as Ben was lounging on a chair in the corner. “Dad would have a field day” Ben commented and breathed out a low chuckle. “Telekinesis. How did he never realize you could do that?”

Klaus just shrugged in response. “I mean I didn't know until today.” He said before glancing down at Nathan. His head wound hurt like a bitch but Dr. Ben had taken a look at it and told him that it wasn’t too bad. Well, Ben had always been the best of them during first aid classes, so who was Klaus to doubt his opinion? “Well, then again before today no one ever hurt my baby.” He huffed and Nathan rolled his eyes. 

“He hurt _you_ , though,” Nathan commented quietly.

“Yeah … And I’m sorry I allowed it for so long, Nathie. I should’ve kicked him to the curb the moment it started, I just-” _No_ , he thought. He couldn't put his shit on Nathan. He couldn't tell Nathan the reasons why he had allowed it, couldn't be open about his emotions like this. Nathan was eight years old. He was a child. One day, Nathan would understand why his father had allowed all of this to happen. One day, he would get it. He hoped, however, that this day was far, far in the future. “I’m sorry. I promise you that something like this will never happen again, Munchkin.”

“Okay.” Nathan nodded and the way he looked up at Klaus knocked the air out of his lungs. He would never get less freaked out about the way Nathan looked at him as if he had hung the sun and the moon in the sky as if he was the center of Nathan’s whole entire universe. It was frightening. He was terrified to mess anything up. Terrified to lose that trust Nathan had in him. 

“Hey … so … you saw what would happen?” Klaus mumbled and brushed a hand through Nathan’s curls. He hummed in response. “And it was no dream?” He shook his head. “Did you … see things before they happened before or was this the first time?”

“I knew that Giacomo would get hit in the head with a football and break his nose four weeks ago,” Nathan said with a nonchalant little shrug. “I told him to stand a bit more to the left but he didn't listen.”

“Oh … wow.” Klaus sighed and then breathed out a chuckle. Premonition. Well, Dad would love that power under his belt. “I always suspected you would develop a power of your own since you could see Ben already but … wow.”

“So … what do we do now?” Nathan asked quietly.

“I don't know” He shrugged and hugged Nathan closer to his chest as his gaze trailed out of the window where lightning was dancing across the night sky over Rome. He loved it here but perhaps it was time to move on. “What about France?” 


End file.
